At one time in the mid-1990s, it seemed like a week couldn't go by without some large gathering of States seeking to hammer out the terms of a new multilateral treaty with aspirations for universal membership. Such treaty negotiations have become a rarer phenomenon today with most meetings now emphasizing implementation of, and compliance with, existing treaties. And where new...
I have to admit, I've been very surprised by the negative reactions I've received concerning my belief that the ICC should not have expressed regret or apologized to Libya for Melinda Taylor's (alleged) misconduct. It seems that most people -- or at least most of the people who have emailed me -- think that the Court should have done anything...
In my previous post, I noted that Libya's representative to the ICC unequivocally acknowledged that Libyan courts could not prosecute Taylor for the alleged misconduct that led to her detention. Apparently, not all Libyan officials are on the same page; witness what a "senior member of the Libyan attorney-general's office" told the BBC earlier today about Taylor and the others: "They...
The Australian media is reporting that Melinda Taylor is heading home, having being illegally detained by the Libyan government for 25 days. That is fantastic news -- and for Taylor and her family, it does not matter why she is free. Institutionally, however, the reason for her release matters a great deal. So it is very important to note that,...
In case you missed it, I want to call your attention to an excellent editorial on the ICC written by friend-of-OJ John Bellinger III. Although John does not support US ratification of the Rome Statute, he argues that the ten-year history of the Court has done much to allay US concerns about it -- and that US opposition to the...
An excellent new report by the Guardian contains a number of interesting tidbits. To begin with, the report confirms that Taylor -- like her erstwhile client -- is being held by the Zintan rebels, not by the Libyan government, and that the relationship between the two is strained: Even if the NTC decides to release Melinda Taylor, it will face the...
I obviously disagreed with the ICC's decision to issue the non-apology apology, but I sincerely hoped that it would at least lead to Taylor's release. Unfortunately, Libya has given no indication that, having suitably humiliated both the Court and Bob Carr, it has any intention of releasing her: Carr said Friday’s talks in the Hague between the ICC and Libyan authorities...
I have often chided David Bernstein for his misrepresentation of the work done by Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, so it is only fair to call out progressives when they, too, distort that work. Political Animal, which is associated with the Washington Monthly, is one of my favorite progressive blogs. But a recent post by Kathleen Geier that claims...
As Mark Kersten has already ably discussed at Justice in Conflict, the ICC released a statement yesterday regarding Melinda Taylor's detention. Ironically, although I think everything about the statement is profoundly devastating to the Court's credibility, I am actually slightly less bothered than Mark by the "regret" section of the statement: The ICC deeply regrets any events that may have given...
[John E. Noyes is the Roger J. Traynor Professor of Law at California Western School of Law.] I do not share Professor Rabkin’s pessimistic view of the prospect of international arbitration of law of the sea disputes under the Law of the Sea Convention. LOS Convention tribunals and the law of the sea experts who serve as judges and arbitrators have helped...
[Editors Note: We inadvertently posted the incomplete version of this post by Jeremy Rabkin this morning. This post has his response to Prof. Noyes earlier post today. Sorry for the confusion.] [Jeremy Rabkin is Professor of Law at George Mason University School of Law.] Craig Allen has performed a valuable service by reporting the range of sea-related treaties where we have already committed to...
[John E. Noyes is the Roger J. Traynor Professor of Law at California Western School of Law.] My thanks again to Julian Ku for organizing this series on U.S. accession to the Law of the Sea Convention. I write to respond to Mr. Groves’s contention, based on U.S. experience in the Gulf of Mexico, that U.S. accession is not needed to further...
